The Indian Army is implementing a significant shift in its military planning by formally adopting Red Teaming, a war-gaming and strategic assessment approach pioneered by the United States and Israel.
This method is specifically designed to simulate an adversary’s mindset and operational behaviour, such as those of commanders like Pakistan’s General Asim Munir, in order to enhance the Army’s own preparedness and improve decision-making.
Red teaming is fundamentally about forming a specialised group within the military that acts as the enemy, critically challenges the Army’s own strategies, and anticipates how an adversary might respond. The process includes embedding officers with deep insight into the enemy’s mindset, tactics, and likely response patterns directly into the core of the planning process.
Their chief roles are:
Challenging existing operational plans
Simulating potential enemy counter-actions
Ensuring that Indian military strategies are robust against realistic adversarial tactics
This concept gained prominence during Operation Sindoor in 2025, which targeted terror camps in Pakistan and marked the first time the Indian Army deployed a formal red team in a real-world operation.
The team, called ‘Vidur Vakta’, included five senior officers from various commands, and their integration represented a major evolution in India’s operational doctrine, transitioning it toward a more anticipatory and adaptive strategic posture.
The primary objectives of Red Teaming, according to Lieutenant General Sumer Ivan D’Cunha (DGMO, Indian Army Air Defence), are as follows:
Anticipating Adversary Intent: Understanding likely moves and capabilities of the enemy.
Evaluating Operational Plans: Testing Indian tactics and command setups by subjecting them to simulated enemy responses.
Testing Readiness: Assessing the technical proficiency and training of Indian forces under stress and threat scenarios.
Avoiding Mirror Imaging: Countering the tendency to assume that enemies will act like Indian forces, which led to operational blind spots in earlier conflicts like Kargil.
Additional applications include:
Cognitive Profiling: Building psychological and behavioural profiles of adversarial decision-makers to correct faulty strategic assumptions.
Threat Modelling And TTP Simulation: Reconstructing enemy strategies and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to find vulnerabilities in Indian defensive postures.
System Testing And Incident Response: Stress-testing Indian defence systems and command structures in realistic warlike situations.
Resource Prioritisation: Directing budget and attention to the most exposed and vulnerable sectors based on the adversary’s likely focus.
How Will Adopting US-Israel Style War Tactics Change India’s Strategic Advantage
Adopting US-Israel Style War Tactics—most notably through practices like Red Teaming and advanced war-gaming—will significantly elevate India’s strategic advantage across several dimensions:
Enhanced Foresight And Preparedness: By systematically simulating adversary thinking and challenging its own operational plans, the Indian Army can anticipate enemy moves, expose weaknesses in strategy, and reduce the risk of strategic surprise. This mirrors US and Israeli approaches that are credited with enhancing decision-making and operational agility.
Operational Adaptability: US-Israel approaches prioritize flexibility. Regular red teaming allows India to rapidly adjust strategies as situations evolve, ensuring that Indian plans remain relevant against dynamic threats and reducing vulnerabilities from rigid, static planning.
Superior Threat Modelling And Countermeasures: The adoption of adversary-centric analysis enables India to tailor force structures, technologies, and tactics specifically to counter the unique strategies and behaviours of rivals like Pakistan and China, rather than relying on mirror imaging or outdated assumptions.
Strengthened Deterrence: Demonstrating capabilities to anticipate and counter adversary actions, especially in response to cross-border terrorism or hybrid warfare, signals stronger deterrence. India’s recent operations—using Israeli technology and tactics—have already demonstrated resolve and sophistication in retaliatory strikes, shifting India’s reputation from strategic restraint to proactive defence.
Integration of Advanced Technology: The US-Israel model emphasizes the rapid adoption of cutting-edge technologies—UAVs, missiles, cyber defence—via close defence partnerships and military-industrial collaboration. India’s partnership with Israel has directly expanded indigenous capabilities and accelerated modernization in surveillance, missile defence, and electronic warfare, reinforcing long-term self-reliance.
Sharper Psychological And Cognitive Profiling: US and Israeli militaries invest heavily in understanding the decision-making patterns and psychological makeup of rival leaders and organizations. By intensifying its own cognitive and psychological profiling (as in red teaming), India can anticipate unconventional tactics—crucial against state and non-state actors.
Improved Counterterrorism And Hybrid Warfare Readiness: Both the US and Israel have pioneered integrated counterterrorism and hybrid warfare responses. India’s adoption of their tactics prepares its forces for the full spectrum of threats, including cyber, information, and proxy warfare, as articulated by recent Indian defence policy statements.
Strategic Autonomy And Geopolitical Leverage: By adopting globally tested doctrines while strengthening indigenous capabilities, India enhances its strategic autonomy—balancing partnerships with the US, Israel, Russia, and regional actors. This nuanced approach positions India better in multipolar competition, especially vis-à-vis China.
Summary & Caveat
A key caveat is that lasting strategic advantage also depends on effective domestic implementation, organizational culture change, and continued investment in defence modernization. Without sustained adaptation, the benefits of borrowed doctrines may be limited.
US-Israel style tactics provide India with a more anticipatory, agile, and technology-driven military posture. This transition reduces vulnerabilities, strengthens deterrence, and enables India to proactively shape its security environment while preserving independence in strategic decision-making.
Flexibility and adaptability are core features. Unlike traditional top-down strategic planning, red teaming injects agility, allowing rapid adjustments as situations evolve. This dynamic process uncovers risks that static strategies may miss and enables better-informed, resilient decision-making.
Internationally, the United States integrates red teams at all levels, including the Department of Defence and intelligence agencies for war games and operational planning. Israel uses it selectively for evaluating non-state and regional adversaries. In both countries, red teaming is crucial for improving foresight, reducing blind spots, and sharpening responses to complex threats.
In conclusion, this adaptation underscores a clear modernization of India’s military mindset—moving from reactive strategy to one in which the Army anticipates enemy moves, stress-tests its own plans, and strengthens national security through systematic, adversary-focused challenge and analysis.
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